Documentation
Sign inGet started
Get started
Guides
API Reference
SDKs & CLI
Knowledge Base
Changelog

Add DNS records · DigitalOcean

If your domain's DNS is hosted at DigitalOcean, this page walks you through publishing the records Bird asks for on a sending domain: a DKIM TXT record, a return-path CNAME, an optional tracking CNAME, and a DMARC TXT record. Bird does not ask you to add an SPF record at your domain's apex — see DKIM, SPF & DMARC for why.
Before you start, open your domain's detail page in the Bird dashboard and keep it visible — every host and value below is copied from there, not typed by hand.

Find the DNS editor

  1. Sign in to the DigitalOcean control panel.
  2. In the left sidebar, click Networking, then the Domains tab.
  3. Click your domain in the list. You land on its records page, with a Create new record form at the top.
The form has a row of tabs for the record type — A, AAAA, CNAME, TXT, and so on. Each record below starts by picking the right tab.

Add the records

The Hostname field is relative to your domain — enter only the part before your domain name. DigitalOcean appends the domain for you.

DKIM (TXT)

  1. Select the TXT tab in the Create new record form.
  2. Hostname: paste the DKIM host from Bird, but remove your domain from the end — for example.com you enter <selector>._domainkey.
  3. Value: paste the DKIM value exactly as shown in Bird (v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=...).
  4. Click Create Record.

Return-path (CNAME)

  1. Select the CNAME tab.
  2. Hostname: send (or whatever subdomain your Bird dashboard shows before your domain name).
  3. Is an alias of: paste the value from Bird, for example <region>.bounce.bird.com.
  4. Click Create Record.

Tracking (CNAME, optional)

This record only enables branded open and click tracking — your domain can verify and send without it.
  1. Select the CNAME tab.
  2. Hostname: links (or the subdomain shown in Bird).
  3. Is an alias of: paste the value from Bird, for example <region>.links.bird.com.
  4. Click Create Record.

DMARC (TXT)

  1. Select the TXT tab.
  2. Hostname: _dmarc.
  3. Value: paste the DMARC value from Bird, for example v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:example.com@dmarc.bird.com;.
  4. Click Create Record. If you already have a DMARC record at this domain or a parent domain, you can keep it — Bird only requires that a valid DMARC record exists.

DigitalOcean gotchas

  • Hostnames are relative. DigitalOcean appends your domain to the Hostname field automatically — entering send.example.com creates send.example.com.example.com. Type only send.
  • The trailing dot is normal. After you save a CNAME, the records list shows the target with a trailing dot (<region>.bounce.bird.com.). That is standard fully-qualified DNS notation, not an error — do not try to remove it.
  • Records here only work on DigitalOcean's name servers. The domain must be delegated to ns1.digitalocean.com, ns2.digitalocean.com, and ns3.digitalocean.com at your registrar. If the name servers point elsewhere, records added in this panel have no effect — add them at the provider the name servers actually point to.

After you publish

There is nothing to click in Bird — verification is automatic. Bird starts checking your DNS within seconds of the domain being added and re-checks frequently, so most domains flip to verified within minutes of the records going live. You can also trigger an immediate re-check from the domain's detail page in the dashboard. If the domain stays pending longer than you expect, see Verification delays.

Related